I Run Back to You
by M.L. Widmann
Summary: ROCK OF AGES - Drew can't stop thinking about Sherrie, especially he runs into her on the street some time later. Lonny talks him into going to surprise her at the Venus Club.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Rock of Ages_, nor do I own the characters.

I Run Back to You

Drew tossed his epaulet-adorned jacket across the living room in his apartment and sighed. _She was crazy about me? How the hell could anyone be crazy about someone like me – especially a girl as amazing as... as her...?_ After running into Sherrie on the street outside the Venus Club, Drew couldn't get her out of his head. She haunted his dreams night after night, and then he finds out she was crazy for him; he just couldn't believe it.

Just then, he heard a toilet flush from down the corridor. _Who else could be here?_ "Hello?" he called out, his voice quivering.

Lonny skipped into the room and leapt onto the sofa, less-than-gracefully. "Hey, Drew!" He took one look at his checkerboard shirt and Street Boyz gear, and didn't know where to begin. "Buddy, there isn't one solid joke to make fun of what you're wearing right now, so I'm just going to let it slide."

Drew hung his head and half chuckled. "Thanks."

"What's all this?"

"My manager – no one liked my music, so he put me in a boy band, and..."

"Wait, boy band?"

Drew wasn't sure what Lonny was confused by. "A band of boys that sing and dance?"

"I know what a boy band – forget it." Lonny pressed his forehead between his two first fingers and sighed. "I thought you were coming home a while ago, so I figured I'd meet you here for a drink; why are you so late?"

"You're never going to believe this."

"You never know unless you try, Wolfgang."

He ignored Lonny's comment. "I ran into Sherrie on my way back."

"Oh yeah?" Lonny seemed intrigued as he drew out the last syllable in a high pitch, but held back further remarks with a smirk. "How did that go?"

"Well, I mean, I don't know if you knew before, but I kind of had a thing for her while she worked with us."

Lonny gasped in about as sarcastic as a manner as he could. "No! Really?"

"That obvious, huh?"

"Dude, everyone knew! Well, except for _Sherrie_..."

"Shit!" Drew took off his Street Boyz hat and threw it across the room with his jacket.

"So..." Lonny looked at him and waited for an answer. When he didn't respond, he rolled his eyes and pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket. "So, what happened with Sherrie?"

"Oh, right! Anyway, she told me she used to have feelings for me!"

"Then what?" Lonny's excitement took him through the roof, as he hopped over to the side of the couch and dangled his hands off the arm like a dog awaiting a treat.

"Then..." Drew sighed heavily and turned his back to his friend. "Then she said she said I made a hot rocker, and said goodbye."

Lonny's mouth hung open so far that his recently lit smoke fell out. "She said _that_?"

"What?"

"Dude, why are you still _here_?"

"_What_?"

Lonny got off the sofa. He took both hands and pushed Drew's back a few short times before he didn't have to anymore, and he just walked toward the door himself. "She said you were a hot rocker, man! She still likes you!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I know it! A girl won't just tell you she likes you, she'll drop little hints and expect you to get it!"

Drew raised his eyebrows, and a grin began to slowly form. "And this was a hint?"

"Definitely! Did she tell you where she was?"

"She said she's a stripper at the Venus Club..."

"No shit!" Lonny burst out laughing. "This only gets better! Okay, you have to go to that club and ask her for a lap dance or something."

"Why can't I just talk to her?"

"Drew," his excitement fell again, and he became very stern. "Second chances don't come around often. This girl digs you! She works at a strip joint, and you're just gonna walk in and talk to her? This is your opportunity to be the fun and sexy Drew she never got to see at the Bourbon Room!"

"Yeah?" Drew smiled.

"Yeah! So go over there and do what you have to do to get your woman!"

"Thanks man!" Drew gave Lonny a forceful one-armed hug before yanking the door open with his free hand and taking off down the hallway.

That was the thing Drew loved about Lonny – he got him worked up to do the stupid shit he never had the courage to even consider. That was also the thing he hated about himself – by the time he'd been walking for a while, left alone with his own thoughts, he was getting nervous. What if Sherrie didn't actually like him? What if she was still mad at him? What if she was _with someone_? The last thought cut through him like a knife, but something kept him walking: the idea of seeing her again, under any circumstances.

Before he knew it, he was standing under the bright pink neon lights of the Venus Club. Why could other men go in here shamelessly, while he was scared to just go in and see someone he already cared for? Maybe that was the part he feared most. He took a deep breath, reminded himself to be confident, and he pushed the door open.

It was a grungy place. He felt bad and somewhat responsible for Sherrie having to work there. On the main stage, there was a cute little red-head in pink lingerie, dancing for a group of hooting young males. Then it caught his eye: an entrance way to something called The Champagne Room. Drew followed his instincts and went through there.

"Sherrie?" The music was loud, but he was persistent. There was a large group of strippers giving lap dances in the middle of the room. "Sherrie!" he picked up speed and ended up almost running over a waitress. "Oops, sorry!" but he couldn't be stopped. "Sherrie! Where are- oh!"

He could literally feel his heart beating out of his chest. There she was. Blonde hair, blue eyes, clothes different, but the same, beautiful Sherrie was dancing for Stacee Jaxx – straddling him, to be painfully specific. He wanted to leave, but she saw him and couldn't look away. "Drew?" it was barely above a whisper, but hearing her say his name again was like heaven.

Stacee turned around to see why she stopped dancing and laughed at the sight of him. "Jean vest!"

Drew shook his head and walked as fast as he could away from the pair, though he could hear her yelling after him, "Drew! Drew, wait!"

No matter how much he loved her, he would never be able to get that image out of his mind. She was still seeing Stacee, or he'd beaten him to the punch. Either way – she liked Stacee Jaxx, and he was only a Street Boy.


End file.
